Friday, December 19, 2008

Fluor (FLR): Downgraded to Sell at Citigroup

Somebody may not have had their coffee yet, they're transposing letters at Notable Calls:

Citigroup downgrades Flour (NYSE:FLR) to Sell from Hold partially on the Obama Overbuilt thesis, but also on project-specific risk at Al-Zour. They find FLR shares are up ~60% since mid-November, and this cannot be accounted for by 1) the Obama impact and 2) the recent rally in energy-related shares. They also believe there is increasing risk Fluor’s piece of the $15 billion Al-Zour refinery may be canceled by the Kuwaiti Oil Ministry.

- Citi calculates an average EPS impact of the Obama plan less than 5% over the next two years. This impact has been more than factored into E&C shares over the last four weeks as the names are up 76% - far more than both the S&P Energy Index and the impact of a stimulus package. Risk of Obamamania hitting a reality check is high, particularly hen oil prices have slid over the same four weeks. Firm's math concludes two of the E&Cs, Foster and McDermott, should not benefit at all from a stimulus package....MORE